Hasta La Gadget!

Sunday night’s announcement from Netflix CEO Reed Hastings that the company was to be split in two was a bombshell that quickly became a joke. According to Reed, Netflix will continue to stream content, while a new company called Qwikster would handle DVD distribution. Unfortunately Netflix/Qwikster haven’t acquired the Qwikster Twitter handle from weed-smoking gangstaz, Jason Castillo. More »

If you’ve just casually glanced over the mass reactions to Reed Hastings’ decision to split the DVD-by-mail business of Netflix into its own brand and company, you’ve probably been duped into thinking that it’s the second questionable move that the world’s most famed movie delivery service has made this year. But is it? Is a man who turned a red envelope into a symbol of near-immediate gratification really a moron? Did he really just bury the company he worked tirelessly to create? I highly, highly doubt it. Knee-jerk reactions are always fun to watch, but they’re rarely on-point. As with most things in life, the truth usually resides somewhere in betwixt the extremes. And in the case of Qwikster — the DVD-by-mail service that precisely no one asked for — the truth is hiding in exactly the place that Reed said it’d be: the future.

Continue reading Editorial: Reed Hastings’ Netflix spinoff isn’t about DVD success, it’s about hedging the stream

Editorial: Reed Hastings’ Netflix spinoff isn’t about DVD success, it’s about hedging the stream originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 19 Sep 2011 02:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Over on Netflix’s official blog, company head Reed Hastings has announced in a surprisingly humble blog post and video (embedded after the break) that it’s splitting the DVD-by-mail business away into a new venture dubbed Qwikster. While the recent price changes already split the cost for each service, when this takes effect in a few weeks it will result in two different websites, two different sets of movie ratings and queues, and two different charges on customer’s bills. He admits two separate sites may make it more difficult to manage a presence on both, but says dropping the need for compatibility between the two will enable new features to balance that out. Another change? Netflix Qwikster (is there anything good about that name?) is getting into video game rentals, available for an extra charge similar to the existing Blu-ray disc option.

While the blog post blames a lack of communication for much of the backlash (and obviously cancellations), it’s about to become very clear that Netflix is “primarily a streaming company.” Also mentioned is “substantial” additional streaming content coming in the next few months. Whatever the company calls itself, charges, or changes on its website, if Netflix wants to talk its way back into subscriber’s good graces, starting with something new to watch is the way to do it.

Continue reading Netflix spins DVD-by-mail service off into Qwikster, says it’s ‘done’ with price changes (video)

Netflix spins DVD-by-mail service off into Qwikster, says it’s ‘done’ with price changes (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 19 Sep 2011 00:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Back in July, after announcing it would decouple unlimited movie streaming from unlimited DVD rentals and charge more to keep both, Netflix predicted it would end up with 25 million subscribers at the end of Q3. This morning it advised investors that prediction has been slashed by 1 million, however most of that shortfall is predicted to come from fewer DVD-only customers than expected, which is expected to come up 800,000 short. While we’ll still have to wait for the actual Q3 results to see how things pan out, the company still claims its projection of 12 million subscribers to both services is right on. While it backtracked on the total numbers, it also outlined its reasoning for raising prices by improving the DVD business, raising more cash to spend on streaming licensing and ultimately “remain price aggressive” and keep its individual offerings at $7.99 each. Much of the kicking and screaming online indicted Netflix’s streaming library for failing to live up to the new price, anyone surprised many cutters seem to be coming from the DVD-only side?

Netflix admits it will end up with fewer subscribers than predicted, shrinks DVD-only count originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 15 Sep 2011 08:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Amazon to launch Netflix-style service for digital books? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 12 Sep 2011 03:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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